It Tolls For Thee
by Dess Frait
Summary: For whom does yonder church bell toll? "For thee," he answered, "Always for thee."


**Hey! Here's a new short story I wrote. Hope you like it!**

**Thanks! Enjoy your reading,**

**Dess**

Snow covered everything. It was cold and the girl was sitting in it. The girl was staring at the trees but the wind blew and she turned to watch the snow move over the ground in swirls. The clouds were black. Footsteps approached her from behind, but the girl refused to acknowledge them. They would mean a person was coming. A conversation that she did not want to have.

"Why are you here?"

The girl did not speak.

"Don't be like that."

Silence.

"You're the one who's doing this. Don't punish us."

The girl was mute.

"I'll leave. I'll leave you here and won't come back. You'll never see me again."

Nothing.

The footsteps came closer. There was a crunch.

"There, I'm sitting with you. Now you will never be rid of me."

The girl breathed.

"No one understands why you're doing this. People depend on you. I depend on you."

The snow stopped moving. Lightning hit a tree. It fell.

"It's not safe here. You heard that tree. That was the one we used for the lake. Remember? The one with the rope. We went there often. I remember. Every summer, but not the spring. You were always away in the spring. But when you were here we went with. Him. We went with him. You remember him don't you? You never speak anymore, so I don't know if you remember."

The girl paused. "I speak."

"No you don't. You skirt around subjects. You avoid everyone. You aren't here anymore."

"I'm here."

"No. You're gone. I've lost you."

The wind blew, harder.

"Come inside. It's warm there. Mama has the pot on the fire. Come inside and talk with us."

Another tree fell. A piece of sky.

"It's not safe. The forest is falling. The storm is coming. The people will be here soon. The forest people. They will come and hurt you. Come inside. We'll be safe."

A third tree, closer. The ground shook. The girl's hair slapped her face.

"Are you leaving because of God? You don't think there is a God. No God would let this happen. I understand. I disagree. There is a God. A God is why you're still with me."

A gun went off. A man yelled from the spot where the sky fell.

"But you're leaving me. Maybe there is no God. Maybe that's why you're leaving."

The shouts got louder.

"Where are you going to go? You don't have anywhere. There's no one else. We're all you have."

More shooting. Nothing anyone could do to help those men. They were dead the day they stepped into the forest.

"Is it because of him? You leaving won't make him come back. You know that, don't you? Answer me."

"No."

"No what?"

"No it's not because of him."

The shouting stopped. The shooting continued.

"You can't leave. What will you eat? Where will you sleep? I'll come with you. That's what I'll do. Then I can make sure you eat and sleep. That you still breathe, even when it's hard. I know it's not easy. Nothing is easy."

The girl saw a fire spread. It burned the bodies of the dead men. No bodies were buried anymore. Too many corpses and too little ground. The fire was orange and red. No yellow, there was never any yellow. Yellow did not exist.

"It will stop eventually. The world will change again. It may never go back to. Before. But it will be better. The power will come back, the people will stop fighting, the sickness. It'll go away. I know it will – because – because there's a God. He'll make sure it will."

It started to rain; it was hard and heavy and cold. There was hail.

"There, the fire's dying now. The forest people went away. So come inside. The fire's gone. Everyone's gone."

The forest had a silence that is only heard after death. An echo of what was just there but cannot be anymore. That is what the world was, the whole world just an echo. A shadow of what it used to be.

"I need to stay to watch after Mama. She'll be devastated if I leave. I'll be devastated if you leave. You've got to stay. I'll die if you leave."

No animals returned after the shots. They had all been gone since the winter started. It started in August.

"We've been together for so long. Months. Years. I used to count. I tallied the days under my bed. I know that you saw. You saw before he. Died. I stopped after that."

The girl grabbed the snow under her hand and lifted it to her face. Under the snow there were the leaves. Brown and gray, still there after the long, long winter.

"You know I love you. Right? I really do. I'm not lying. I swear it. Don't leave."

She closed her hand. The leaves tore and fell.

"No you don't." said the girl.

"I do. I really do. You've got to believe me. I wouldn't lie."

"Yes you would. You'd lie to keep me here."

"No. I mean it. I love you. You love me. I know you do."

"No I don't."

"You're lying."

"No."

"You are. I know it. I know you. You're lying."

The girl made no response.

"Mama is sick. You pretend you don't know. But she's coughing and I know you see it every night. She coughed up blood yesterday. It's just like him. No God would ever let this happen. No God would let me lose Mama, lose both of you. I can't. "

The girl looked up. The rain hurt her face. No light got through the clouds. She shivered. Hail hit her arms.

"Talk to me. You talked before. I have no one to talk to now. There is no one for miles. Nothing to do. We are so weak, anyway. There is no food. How are you going to get where you're going so weak? You weigh no more than the pack you'd carry. I can see your ribs through your jacket. I can hear you wheeze with each breath. You're gray. Tell me how you are going to make it anywhere."

The girl closed her eyes. She wanted to leave. She wanted to get away from everything. But there was nowhere to go. The whole world was ruined. The girl ducked her head into her knees.

"Come inside. We'll drink some tea and read a book. We'll read the one that you like. _For Whom the Bell Tolls_. We'll read it now. Come inside."

The girl stared as there was another crunch next to her.

"Aren't you coming?"

"No."

"You are. Come inside."

"No."

"I know you will. Mama wants us inside. You should come before the hail gets any bigger. It always does."

"I would rather stay."

"Come inside."

The girl stood and wiped herself off. Her hands were numb.

"Good. We'll go inside and be safe. The sky can't fall on us inside. Neither can a tree."

Lightning hit the trees in front of the girl.

"I love you, you know. I really do. I know you'll never leave me. You love me too much."

The girl stared at the black trees. They were dead, too.

"Let's go warm up. I'm freezing. We can warm up together. After we drink some tea we'll go to bed. We'll warm up."

The girl walked slowly. She wanted to stay. She wanted to leave the bad world they were in. Leave the bad people. Leave the bombs. Leave the dead. Leave the storms. Leave the war.

The girl turned and walked toward the house with him. The boy grabbed her hand. It was still numb.

As they walked together, the girl thought the line of the book she knew so well.

Never ask to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. It tolls for me.

**If you enjoyed it, hated it, or anything at all review and let me know! **

**Thanks for reading,**

**Dess.**


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